01x03 : Gifted
by Gabrielle Henson
Summary: [Third episode in a series]Buffy is about to leave for Rome again and is worried to not have heard about Gideon. And Faith is getting even more in trouble...
1. Teaser

_Disclaimer : Everyone knows who own Buffy and co ! Obviously, it's not me!_

_ The story is the third episode in a series called 'Rocky path' and begins around one year after 'Chosen'_

_(01x01 : Friends and 01x02 : Guilty are the two first episodes, I strongly recommand to read them to understand that one) _

_You can check it out on my website  
_

_Please let me know what you think._

_And I'm still looking for beta-readers ! _

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Buffy's room was lighted by the sweet light of the afternoon. The window was open, diffusing a light breeze lifting up the thin curtains and let the town's noises in.

Several clothes piles were put on a side of the bed, carefully folded and organized. On the other side of the mattress was a big opened suitcase.

Buffy began to fill the suitcase delicately with one of the clothes piles she had prepared. Then a second pile found its place near the first. Then a third.

Sat in an armchair near the bad, Xander was looking at her with a distract look.

"I can't believe we already split" The carpenter said.

Buffy looked up to him. Then she stopped what she was doing and came to sit beside him near the headboard.

"I know." She replied. "Those weeks went so fast"

"Yeah" Xander confirmed.

Silence fell again, each of them wanting to talk about the same thorny problem but neither of them knowing how to start. Finally Xander did :

"it's been a long time since we got back" He began

"I know, I know" Buffy exclaimed immediately. "That wait drives me nuts!"

She got up and began to pace the room.

"We don't even know if it worked! Gideon just told us to go and that we'll find her in time!"

"And it's been more than a month we're back…" Xander added.

"One month!" Buffy repeated. « More than a month now ! Gideon never mentioned it will be that long!"

"Have you talked to Giles?"

Buffy nodded and resumed her sit on the bed beside Xander.

"Yeah"

"And?"

"And you know Giles" Buffy replied with evidence. "He made a whose lecture about resurrection, the different methods and problems, all this in an almost incomprehensible language to conclude he doesn't know"

Xander sighed.

"So Giles has no idea if that delay is normal or not?"

"According to Giles, it might be normal or not. Which doesn't help us"

Buffy looked at her suitcase with despair.

"And we're going back to Rome tomorrow evening." The Slayer wailed. "It's getting hard to postpone my return again," she whispered in an apologic tone.

Xander offered her a sympathetic gaze.

"I understand," he said gently. "You can't do more. Your job's waiting for you. Giles and I will be there if something happens"

"Something WILL happen" Buffy said with certainty.

"Buffy" Xander began. " It might not…"

"No" The Slayer protested without letting him finish.

"Buffy" Xander insisted. "It's something we should think about"

Buffy shook her head.

"No Xander. I'm sure it worked."

"Buffy, it might not. Nothing allows to be sure after all this time"

"No" Buffy repeated. "I fell it. It worked"

Xander didn't insist in front of the stubborn look on his friend's face. She softened her expression when she saw resignation appearing in the carpenter's face.

"If nothing happened soon, I'll pay a visit to Gideon"

Xander let escape a sarcastic laugh.

"I'm not sure resurrections are warranted"

Buffy smiled almost unwillingly to her friend's comment.

"Probably not" she whispered


	2. Act 1

**Act 1**

As often as this time in the afternoon, Rupert Giles sat at his desk, an open book in front of him, a pen in his hand, sheets blackened with a thin and regular handwriting under his arm. He jumped at a sharp knock at the door and looked up. Faith stood in the doorstep.

"Wanted to see me?"

"Right. Please come in Faith. Close the door."

Saying this, Giles got up and gestured to the dark-haired Slayer to come forward. She obeyed and closed the door behind her as she had been told. Then she came shambling to the desk and let herself fall heavily in an armchair before Giles had time to invite her to do so. Giles sat back and considered Faith's sullen look for a moment.

"Hum, Faith" He began and tried to hide awkwardly his discomfort.

The Slayer was staring at him, shared between amusement coming from Giles obvious illness and mistrust from the reasons Giles had asked for her to come.

"Faith" Giles resumed after a brief hesitant silence. "I'm glad you find some time to come and see me"

"You asked for me" Faith said, looking everywhere but at Giles. "I came"

"Well" Giles said, steadying his glasses on his nose. "I wanted to talk to you about these last weeks and even months"

Faith deeply sighed and sunk in her armchair as she had wanted to disappear.

"What about these last months?" She asked in a slightly bitter tone.

"Well, I have to tell you that I… Well, us, the council, we're kind of worried about you"

Faith looked at Giles with a bored look.

"Worried?" She repeated, as too be sure she had correctly heard.

"Yes, worried" Giles confirmed. "Your… behavior lately was kind of worrying to us…"

Faith frowned and stood up slightly on her seat.

"My behavior?" She asked.

"Yes, your behavior"

Giles settled more comfortably in his armchair and looked at Faith straight in the eye.

"Listen Faith, I'm going to be clear and direct with you"

"That'll be a change" Faith grumbled.

Slightly surprised by Faith's comment, Giles opened his mouth then closed without completing his lecture. He decided to let this pass and resumed, as the Slayer had not talked:

"You're one the Chosen two and you've been activated for years now. Despite your…hum…how put this? …bustling past, we had – I had – great hopes about you after seeing you during the fight against the First. You proved you to be a talented leader and…"

"A leader who sent kids in deathly trap!" Faith interrupted in a furiously tone.

"A leader who lead a group to victory" Giles corrected.

"B lead the group to victory" Faith countered.

"Buffy did. With you"

"She did it alone" Faith repeated stubbornly.

"Buffy wouldn't have done anything alone." Giles went on without quitting his quiet tone. "She needed you, just like she needed the others"

Faith stopped protesting and decided to sink into a sulky silence instead. Giles saw her behavior changing but nevertheless resumed:

"Whatever, I wanted to tell you that I find your stubbornness to refuse to take part to collective missions a great pity. I know that you patrol a lot when you're alone but I think you'd be a lot more useful here, with the others Slayers. These girls need you, as you could need them. But since you came back, I have to admit I have some trouble to understand what you do. You don't follow any order and even since last month incident in the nest which required Kennedy's help, you keep doing just it pleases you. It's a nonsense"

Faith sighed and answered nothing at first. Then she noticed that Giles clearly waited fir her to answer something. She sighed again but decided to talk:

"Giles, what do you want me to do?" She asked. "You want me to obey to girls who couldn't hold a stake a year ago?"

"Some of those kids had already survived a descentin a hellmouth one year ago" Giles answered coldly.

"Maybe, maybe" Faith admitted. "And one year ago, I escaped jail where I was locked in for two murders. I spent eight months in a coma and three years in jail. And you'd want me to be among the kids? I think I'm better by myself"

She stopped and put her vibrating brown eyes in Giles' ones.

"I think I'm an alone kind of girl Giles"

The Watcher considered the Slayer for long second before he crossed his arms over his chest and said:

"And I think you're not an alone kind of girl more than anyone. No one has to be alone. Not even the Slayer. Not now."

He stopped again a brief second and resumed before Faith could react:

"I'm worried about you Faith" He said sincerely. "I'd just like you to think about all this"

Giles fell silent and searched to read any kind of reaction on the Slayer's face but found none.

"The council members would like to meet you later" He concluded;

Faith couldn't help a gesture of surprise.

"The council members?"

Giles immediately tried to sooth her:

"They'd just like to talk with you? Just like us now. That's why I want you to think about this before. I let you know when we're ready to meet you"

"Giles, you're kidding me, right?"

"Absolutely not" Giles answered firmly this time.

"What do you want me to tell them?" Faith protested again.

"I'm sure you'll come up with something"

Faith opened her mouth to protest again but Giles interrupted her.

"Faith, it's important to me"

Then he pointed out to her that she could leave. The Slayer rolled her eyes, got up, gestured somehow with her head as a goodbye and exited the room.

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"Hum… Still nothing?"

Giles adjusted his glasses and looked at Buffy who was slouched in an armchair in front of him. Giles was used to see her here this way lately. The Slayer wore a dark and sullen look on her face and she looked distractly past Giles' shoulder the stars now appearing in Cleveland dark sky.

"No" She answered. "Nothing"

Buffy ceased to look absent-mindedly outside and looked at her former Watcher.

"And I'm going to leave tomorrow… My luggage are already done and…"

"Buffy…" Giles interrupted in a soothing tone. "You did everything you could. You can't wait here forever. You have to get back to your life. Xander and I will be there just in case of something happens."

But Buffy's look did not change. Far from getting calmer, the Slayer became even more restless and started to nervously rap her fingernails on the armchair's arm.

"Giles, I made that decision, it's up to me to take care of this. I WANT to to take of this"

Then, she threw her arms to the sky:

"Damn it, what's so damn long? Willow pulled me out of my grave within minutes! Well, not literally pulled out..."

Buffy shivered to the painful memory of getting out of her grave herself. A sickening idea came to her mind.

"Giles! What if Tara has to get out of her grave like I did?" She exclaimed in a panic.

"It would be bad news if such is the case" Giles answered darkly. "Considering the fact that her grave is buried deep under Sunnydale's rubbles"

Buffy's look became one of horror and she almost got up.

"Oh, God, Giles… You think that… that it could be ?"

Giles shook his head.

"Even if we can't say for sure, it's very unlikely Buffy. Gideon will probably take care of that point in one way or the other"

Buffy let escape a relieved sigh and fell back on her seat.

"Son why is this so long Giles?"

Giles sighed sadly.

"The answer may be really simple Buffy" he began.

"No" The Slayer replied. "Xander already told me the same thing" she added.

"And Xander may be right" Giles asserted.

"Buffy, being ready to face a possible failure was a condition to get yourself in this" Giles added almost severely.

Buffy laid her clear eyes on her Watcher and sighed with lassitude.

"I know Giles, I know" She whispered. "It's just…It took me so much time to decide, I thought about this so much, I weighted and weighted it again and again… And maybe for nothing. It's hard to accept, that's all"

Giles looked sympathetically at her. He was about to tell her some comforting words, but the Slayer absent-mindedly resumed:

"It's not the kind of thing you do without giving it a lot of though. Even if it's what you think"

She added those last words in a firmer tone as she looked at him. He wanted to deny but she didn't give him enough time and said in a lower voice, her eyes on her shoes.

"It's not like I was waiting for something I order on internet or something like that… It's… It's just… It's just deeper…"

She stared again at Giles.

"And I know even better than before that not telling Willow was the right choice"

Giles nodded his head gravelyHe stood up, went round his desk to get closer to Buffy who had gotten up seeing him doing so. The Watcher got then the simplest and the most comforting gesture. He hugged the Slayer.

"I guess you'll probably have to do your mourning a second time now, Buffy"

The Slayer returned the hug with pleasure. It had probably been too long since she and Giles hadn't gotten themselves a moment link this. And Buffy knew that Giles was giving her at that precise moment was exactly what she needed: fatherly comfort and tenderness.

"Or maybe you'll have to mourn someone you never get the chance to mourn before" The Watcher breathed. 

Buffy let herself go in the embrace for a moment before finally getting free.

"What about you?" She asked. "The council ? Is everything okay? "

Giles sighed and got back to his armchair.

"Yes, yes. Everything's quite good actually. Well, almost everything"

"Almost?" Buffy asked as she sat back herself.

"A little problem with Faith"

Buffy rolled her eyes.

"Faith. Again"

"Maybe you could try and talk to her? I'd like to have her more invested in the young Slayers' training and to have her becoming a leader here in Cleveland. But she's a little…"

"Stubborn?" Buffy offered.

Giles nodded, a little bit embarrassed to admit it.

"Yes, yes. I guess we can put it that way. So, will you? I think she'll listen to you more than me or anybody else and…"

Buffy raised her hand to interrupt.

"Well, I'm not sure about this. But I'll talk to her"

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Buffy pushed quietly her sister's room door. Dawn was there, pacing the room at a decided step, gathering her clothes with curt gestures, and throwing them without care in a suitcase opened on her bed. She grumbled words under her breath that even Buffy couldn't hear with her enhanced Slayer hearing. The older Summers stayed on the doorstep for a moment, looking at her sister pacing, Dawn never noticing her. Finally, she came in and closed the door behind her.

The noise of the latch made Dawn turn around to her sister, and Buffy could see she was wearing a clearly frustrated look on her face.

"Oh, it's you" She said simply.

Then she came back to her task without adding anything else. Buffy came closer to the bed, sat beside the headboard and checked out her sister. She looked like she was furious and the Slayer wondered what had happened for her to be in such a state. She decided to forget her own problems for a time to try to understand Dawn's.

"What's wrong?" She gently asked.

Dawn stopped what she was doing and turned to her.

"What's wrong what?"

"Looks like you're irritated"

"Because I am" Dawn dryly answered as she resumed her ordering.

"And why are you?" Buffy frowned and asked.

Dawn shrugged.

"It's nothing" she said first.

Then she stopped her task again and turned around to the Slayer.

"Actually, it's because of Kennedy. We kinda fought, that's all."

Kennedy. 'Of course' Buffy thought. The blonde Slayer considered a sister silently for a time. Then she made her decision. It was a time like another to come back to the burning Kennedy topic.

"What happened with Kennedy?"

"Nothing special" Dawn grumbled. "She's just Kennedy" she added after a silence.

Dawn said nothing more, like those simple words were enough to explain everything and she obviously didn't want to dwell on the matter. But Buffy decided against it.

"Dawn" She began.

But her sister didn't bother to listen or to stop her activities to give her some attention. Buffy then seized her by her arm and forced her to turn to her.

"Dawn, we should talk"

"About what?"

"You" Buffy answered. "You look like all irritated and I'd like us to talk about it"

"I just told you what it was about" Dawn said.

And saying this, she was about to come back to the closet but Buffy stopped her.

"Dawn, we have to talk." She repeated. "About Kennedy"

Dawn let willingly escape a long bored sigh.

"And what about Kennedy?"

"I don't get you" Buffy calmly explained. "I don't get what you have against her and why you're acting the way you do with her. Don't you see it makes Willow sad?"

Dawn winced and crossed her arms over her chest and Buffy was satisfied to read on her sister's face that the Willow point had shoot right in the middle.

"Why don't you like Kennedy?"

"She's bothering me" Dawn answered without further explications.

"Why?" Buffy asked firmly.

"I don't know!" Dawn shouted. "Or maybe I do. There're a lot of reasons. Very good reasons" She specified without explaining said reasons.

"It's the way she always wants to be better than anyone, to be a super gifted Slayer, a super cool gal, to date the most powerful witch on earth. The way she does anything she can to be a melting between…between…"

She seemed to search a moment how to explain clearly what she meant and finally said :

"…between Faith and Tara"

Buffy's mouth opened wide in shock and surprise and the Slayer looked at her sister with a dumbfounded look. For a moment, she tried to portray what could be a melting between Tara and Faith. But no image nor idea came to her mind and Buffy gave up as Dawn added when she saw Buffy's look :

"No, it's not a Faith and Tara melting. It's Faith and you melting. Yeah, 'cause she's got nothing in common with Tara. Well, except the dating Willow part."

Buffy concentrated on her sister's words and tried to gather her thoughts. She began to form a theory.

"Dawn" She gently asked. "It's about Tara, isn't it?"

As Buffy pronounced the witch's name, Dawn stopped pacing and came to settle near her older sister.

"Maybe a little" she admitted. "I just think she's not at her place"

"And what would be her place according to you?"

Dawn shrugged.

"I don't know. But not Tara's"

Buffy took gently her sister's hand in hers.

"You know, I don't think Kennedy is taking Tara's place, I…"

"Of course she is!" Dawn protested.

"Dawn, you don't want Willow to be alone forever, do you?"

"No, no" Dawn answered in a low voice.

Buffy ran her fingers in her sister's long hair, as she was used to when she was younger. She didn't protest and let her do so.

"And you didn't have any problem with Kennedy at first. Why now?"

Dawn shrugged flippantly.

"At he beginning, she was just a potential interested in Willow. We were at war. We could die any second. And Will needed so much someone who could make her smile again, someone to give her some hope again…"

She stopped, and she looked like she was lost in memories of that past so close and so far at the same time.

"But now…" Dawn resumed. "It's… it's almost serious"

Buffy couldn't help but raise her eyebrows about the 'almost' but decided not to comment and to let her sister finish.

"They live together now and everyone is looking at her like she's Willow's girlfriend"

"But she is" Buffy gently prompted.

"Yeah. She is. And everyone accepts her, everyone likes her. Not only Will. But Xander, Giles, you… So, what's the matter with me not accepting her?"

Dawn fell silent and looked at her sister who looked for an answer or comforting words to give. But before she could come up with something, the younger Summers lowered her head to stare at her hands on her knees and resumed in a low voice :

"I just think that as long as someone still misses her, as long as someone doesn't want to replace her, then, she's not entirely gone…"

"Oh, Dawn!"

Buffy stopped caressing her sister's hair and suddenly hugged her.

"I know it's already more than two years" Dawn whispered as she let herself go in her sister's arms. "But I still miss her. I just don't want her to be dead…"

Buffy clasped her sister more tightly in her arms and felt her own heart constrict as Dawn let herself more and more against her.

"And I often thought and hoped that maybe one day, Willow would be powerful enough to…"

Dawn stopped talking and let her head lay on her sister's shoulder. Buffy remained silent, just waiting for her sister to finish to tell what Buffy had already guessed.

"I know what you're going to say. I know it's bad to hope something like that, I know I shouldn't talk about this with you after all you went through" Dawn went on without looking at her eldest. "But sometimes, I hoped that one day, Willow would be powerful enough to bring Tara back"

Dawn fell silent and waited for her sister's reaction. She already anticipated the lecture she was sure was to come about that foolish wait. But Buffy just caressed again her sister's long hair without saying anything.

"But if Willow's happy with Kennedy, if she doesn't miss Tara anymore, then there's not any more chance it can happen…" Dawn finished in a breath.

Buffy freed herself a little from her sister's embrace to look at her and make her look up to her.

"Dawn, I still miss Tara too. And Willow missed her. Willow will always miss her. Kennedy won't ever change that. They're both different. And loving Kennedy doesn't mean she replaces Tara. For none of us. But…"

"I know" Dawn interrupted. "I know you can't understand I could hope Willow would do that, I know it's bad, I…"

Dawn had stepped back against the wall as she said this and her hands were clutching desperately the bedspread and she didn't dare to look her sister in the eye. Buffy tried hard to control her feelings and she came closer to her sister again.

"Dawn, I understand. You don't have to be ashamed. And you know, it took some time but I got a beautiful resurrection finally, didn't I?"

Buffy put her finger under Dawn's chin to make her look up to her again.

"Didn't I?"

Dawn wiped quickly a tear that was forming at the corner of her eyes and nodded, smiling weakly to her sister. The sisters looked at each other for a moment in silence during which Dawn looked like she was fighting whatever internal struggle. Finally, her smile got a little wider.

"I'll try to be better with Kennedy" She concluded.

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Faith was casually laying on her bed, with her arms folded under her neck rested on her pillow. She was satisfied that Giles had decided to assign her a room despite the fact she was on the roads most of the time. That way, she could let here some of her stuff and it prevented her to share a room with others Slayers like did almost every others girls.

But the room didn't show any sign of interior decoration or personalization. Nothing allowed an exterior watcher to guess the room was the rogue slayer's one, except her presence in the room. Her only visible things were her black leather jacket and her boots near the only chair in the room.

There was a light knock on the door and the Slayer slightly stood. She looked at the door frowning. She wasn't used to get visitors. A second firmer knock came then to her ears.

"Come in" Faith shouted without moving from her bed but sitting.

The door opened, revealing Robin Wood. He wore a gray cotton flannel suit and a dark red shirt. He smiled to the Slayer who was looking at him with surprise and took a step in the room.

"May I come in?"

Faith nodded and Robin totally came in and closed the door behind him. Faith looked at him with a questioning look.

The former principal stared around him before his attention got back to the brunette Slayer.

"That room is…"

He looked again around him, looking for the suiting word to describe Faith's lair.

"…practical?" He concluded.

Faith didn't answer to that politeness mark and asked almost abruptly:

"What brings you here?"

"Actually, I think we have to talk"

Faith stood and took her jacket off the chair and gestured to Robin to sit. He did as he was told and looked at Faith throwing her jacket on her bed before sitting on it in front of him.

"So?" she asked simply, already picturing Robin playing her the same scene as Giles in the morning, telling her how the council was disappointed with her and adding the manhandled lover part.

"Well, for a start, I want you to know that I'm not here to talk because I'm angry with you because you stood me up to the restaurant last month or because you're avoiding me since then…"

"Which means it has probably everything to do with it" Faith interrupted him.

"Faith, listen…" Robin said.

"No, you listen to me" Faith interrupted abruptly. "I didn't dump you willingly that day. There was a vampires attack in town and I went to help. I'm a Slayer, that's my job, that's my…"

"Faith, I know this. You already explained." He answered quietly. "And I already told that with all the Slayers here, you weren't forced to go, especially to…"

Robin fell silent when she saw Faith rolling her eyes and getting ready to interrupt him again.

"…But I didn't come here to talk about this"

He fell silent again and looked at the Slayer straight in the eye.

"You probably know that Giles offered me to deal permanently with the European branch of the council in England"

"Yeah" Faith said, wondering where Robin wanted to go with that.

"I decided to accept. I would have asked you to come with me…"

"You perfectly know that I can't leave the country!" Faith exclaimed with anger as she stood up.

"You already did it before with a fake identity." Wood answered. "And you know Giles will take care of your situation toward the law as soon as he can"

Faith sat back on the bed and Robin resumed without giving her enough time to add something else.

"But I don't ask to prevent you to have to search for a better reason than this one not to come with me"

There was a new silence.

"I don't think we're going somewhere together." He said finally, his still on Faith.

"Are you saying that…" Faith whispered.

"That I'm leaving you? Maybe I am. If we were both in a situation about which we can say that one of us can leave the other."

The Slayer didn't answer and didn't show any reaction.

"Listen Faith" Robin resumed. "I like you and I know you like me too. But it's been a year we're like that, together without being really together. I know you tried. But I think you're still not ready for a true relationship. And I'm not sure I can still wait for you to be"

He stopped talking and a heavy silence fell between them.

"Supposing it ever happens. Or supposing I'm the guy you need" Robin finished.

Faith's lips twitched in a light wince Wood didn't know how to read and the ending word was for the Slayer:

"I guess we're saying goodbye then?"

Robin gravely nodded and offered a weak smile to the former rogue Slayer's dark face.


	3. Act 2

**Act 2**

The two girls walked unhurriedly between the grey tombstones at the 'small' cemetery. The sky was overcast and only some stars could be seen among the clouds. The ground was covered with a slight mist, which intensified the deathly ambiance. The Chosen two were silent but it was not an embarrassed silence. On the contrary, it was a comfortable silence each of them built on to let their mind wander to former times when they already had the chance to pace cemeteries together. From these two distinct times – the one preceding Faith's fall to rage and madness, and the one when both girls were in turns then together, leaders of a cruel war - there was little left. And even if the extroverted and enraged Faith from before sometimes came back on the surface, even if the happy and funny Buffy aimed at coming back more often, both of them knew they were far away from those moments of still innocent tentative friendship.

"I was surprised when you asked me to go for a quick patrol with you" Faith eventually admitted.

"I'm leaving tomorrow" Buffy replied. "I thought we could use some time to talk"

Faith had a small and bitter laugh.

"Obviously, everybody wanna talk to me today" she said.

Buffy didn't bat an eye to her counterpart's critical tone and resumed as naturally as possible:

"How are things for you with the new Council?"

Faith looked at the blonde Slayer, showing her openly she clearly saw where she was going with that. But she decided to answer anyway:

"Nice enough to me" she said. "Lot of vampires to kill, lot of Slayers to kill them. Board and lodge. Less chance to die each night with all those Slayers"

Buffy smiled slightly and cast a glance to Faith.

"So why do you risk to face enemies alone most of the time?" She asked.

Faith shrugged and didn't answer.

"Faith" Buffy insisted. "Gilles is worried about you"

"That's it" Faith grumbled and looked away.

"Why do you take such risks when you can be here to train and lead the newbies? You'd be useful here."

Faith snorted.

"To what? Leading? Strategizing? Thinking? You should know it's not my thing B »

"I know, I do" Buffy answered dryly.

Faith slightly winced when she heard Buffy's hard tone and saw the severe look she was wearing.

"I'm trying to do my best" she spat.

"Your best?" Buffy exclaimed. "Doing what? Staying away from the council and the other Slayers?"

The blonde Slayer stopped walking and her dark-haired counterpart did the same to face her.

"Faith you're gifted and you could do better with that gift. And I thought you wanted to …"

"A gift that's yours too. And you use it for what?" Faith cut her sharply. "Teaching gymnastics? Screwing vampires? Oh wait, you already did that before!"

"It's not about me!" Buffy answered in an icier tone with each word she said. "It's about you"

"Then, if you wanna know everything," Faith said, opening her arms and gesturing around her. "I use my gift. I may kill more vampires and demons than dozens of Slayers here. Believe-me, I don't get much rest"

"There's nothing else interesting you?" Buffy asked hard? "Being a role model and a leader for those girls is not interesting to you? Now that you can do something else with your power than killing, it does not interest you?"

"Being a role model and a leader is your thing B, not mine"

"It could be yours if you really wanted it. But you have to want it. And but you'd need more generosity and courage that you currently possess."

"Generosity and courage that are yours, right?" Faith asked in a sardonic tone.

"I fought during seven years" Buffy replied sharply. "I died twice and I came back twice. I saw those I loved dying without being able to do anything. I saw my friends risk their lives, suffer, be threatened by MY enemies. Should remind you something Faith?"

The last question was asked clearly to hurt. And the goal was perfectly reached. Faith felt the hurt caused by Buffy's words as she has been physically hit. Her shoulders suddenly seemed crushed by an invisible weight and she clenched her fists until her short nails cut into her palms' skin. She was about to answer something but Buffy – who hadn't notice the change in the other Slayer's composure- went on in a hardly calmer tone:

"So don't come talking about generosity or courage to ME, not you when you're running away from your responsibilities. When everybody needs you. When everybody gives you a second chance and you're unable to take it"

"A second chance?" Faith exclaimed in a slightly shaking voice. " A second chance? Look at you, B, listen to you. You trusted me against the First cause you had other choice, but you still blame me. Whatever I'll do, you'll never see I've changed, will you?"

Buffy looked at Faith and stared at her from head to toes and looked like she was thinking about the question before she answered simply:

"I really thought you had changed"

"And I'd like that one day you'd be convinced I really had. I still got a debt toward you. I'll pay it"

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"So, you're leaving this time?"

Willow was sitting on Dawn's bed with her legs crossed and was looking at the young Summers finishing to get her suitcase ready. Both young women had the same sad look on their face at the evocation of the Summers sisters' departure.

"It's incredible that Buffy agreed to stay that long" Dawn answered. "But she has to get back to work in a few days. She can't really stay much longer"

Willow winced. Dawn closed her suitcase and came to sit beside Willow.

"And you're leaving tomorrow too, aren't you?"

Willow nodded thoughtfully.

"Yeah. We didn't plan to stay that long either. Kennedy was happy to see some girls she knew here again. But we're awaited in Rio."

"I don't know how we'll find things!" She added in a dubious tone.

Dawn let escape a small laugh.

"I'm pretty sure it's the whoopee without you and Kennedy!"

Saying this, Dawn lied down and rested her head on the witch's knees and the redhead thoughtfully began to caress her hair.

"I bet!" She said, arching an eyebrow. "But we have a good team. And there're some watchers to watch after the kids!"

There was a brief silence before Willow totally changed the subject:

"It's going to be your last year in high school, right? Did you think about what you're gonna do after?"

Dawn shook her head thoughtfully.

"Not really. I don't even know if I'll stay in Europe"

Willow considered the young Summers with surprise.

"You'd get back without Buffy or Buffy plans to come back?"

Dawn shrugged.

"I don't know. I don't think she plans to come back right now. But…"

Dawn fell silent for a second then resumed:

"I hope she'll change her mind. I hope that seeing you all here again will make her want to come back here. That it'll make you all want to come back here."

"Dawn, I think Buffy really needs a break. And if we're all living close again, it'll be too hard for her to stay – to make you stay- away the council when Giles, Xander and I work for it."

"I don't want her to make me stay away from the council" Dawn replied. "I understand her choice but I want to make my own choice"

"Buffy does what she thinks is the best for you"

"I know" Dawn answered. "And to be honest, life really feels good with her there. We hardly fight. I mean we normally fight for two sisters. But… I miss you?"

Willow squeezed Dawn's shoulder in a gesture of understanding and care.

"I know. I miss you all too." She answered. "But Cleveland is the last place on earth where Buffy will come to live"

"We're not forced to come here" Dawn said. "We could find a place… quieter?"

Willow smiled sadly.

"We can't Dawn. Not now in any case"

"Maybe later? In some years?" Dawn asked with hope.

"Maybe" Willow confirmed.

--------------------------------------------------

The ambiance between Faith and Buffy wasn't quite warmer and a terrible silence had fallen between them since their previous talk.

"So, how's patrol girls?"

Buffy jumped at Xander's happy tone. Both Slayers stopped walking and turned around to see the carpenter heading toward them.

"Xander!" Buffy exclaimed in an almost hysterical tone. "What are you doing here alone? Are you crazy?"

"Easy Buffy" He answered with a smile. "I've got weapons and don't forget my great experience with vampires"

Saying this, he got a cross, a stake and a knife out of his coat.

"Plus, that cemetery is full of Slayers. I already met two groups before finding you"

"And that's the reason why we have nothing to kill" Faith grumbled.

They resumed their walk, Xander between the girls.

"So, what are you doing here?" Buffy asked. "Cemetery nostalgia?"

"Well, I could say that but to be perfectly honest, the girls left to have girlie talk, Slayers have Slayers talk and I couldn't stand pool with Andrew any more. I'm pretty sure that boy could get a statue bored"

Buffy and Faith chuckled to Xander's comment. Both understood what he meant. Buffy in particular knew what Andrew could come up with as the boy had lived in Rome for some time with her and Dawn. By dint of efforts, he had eventually almost tamed the younger Summers who was very reluctant about him though. But there were still moments you would have prayed that Andrew had been born mute or became mute just for a minute.

"So you decided to come alone for a walk at the cemetery?" Buffy asked, arching severely an eyebrow.

"Everything's all right" the carpenter replied. "I'm here all good and now surrounded by the two best Slayers ever. Couldn't be safer"

He smiled to them and his eyes were shining with sincerity. Buffy had to drop her severity in front of her friend's expression and Faith was only to happy to get the compliment.

"You should have asked Kennedy to come with you" the blonde added nevertheless as they resumed their walk.

Xander shrugged.

"Poor Kennedy" He said. "She's in full Slayer mode tonight, all talking with the girls about the best way to kill demons. For her last evening here, I didn't want to bother her by asking to play bodyguard for me"

"You could have" Faith said. "Doing things is all better than all this talk!"

"Kennedy enjoys sharing with the other groups of Slayers" Xander noticed. "All of them hadn't the same habits or ways to do things. Sharing can be good and help to get better"

Faith shrugged and was about to add a bitter comment but Buffy was quicker.

"Sharing is a word Faith doesn't know"

The dark haired Slayer cast her a dark look but before she never got time to answer. A vampire chose that precise moment to come their way.

With perfect coordination, both Slayers ran to him and one of them gave him a violent kick in his ankles that throw him off balance, which allowed the other to sink her stake right through his heart. The vampire immediately disappeared in dust.

"Good job" Xander said. "Beautifully done"

Faith winced.

"Too quick" she said. "No fun in there"

"There're days like that" Xander answered with philosophy. "One day, you just have a little vampire to sink your teeth in and another day you have a whole nest to sink your teeth in…Well, maybe it's the nest that sink teeth in y… Hey!"

A figure beat down on Xander, leaving his sentence unfinished and sending the young man fall on a tombstone some feet away. Both Slayers reacted immediately and kept the aggressor off, Faith pulling him violently away from Xander. Buffy jumped beside him and rained kicks on the vampire, quickly mimicked by Faith. Understanding who they were, the vampire tried to run away but his retreat was cut shortly by the dark-haired Slayer who sent him back to Buffy with a powerful punch. Buffy seized the vampire by his collarbone and ran resolutely her stake to his heart.

"Hey" Faith protested. "You could have let me"

Buffy rolled her eyes and gave her a half-grimace.

"Sorry, my turn. You dusted the last one"

Faith mumbled some incomprehensible words as Buffy got Xander to his feet.

"You okay?"

Xander cleaned his jacket and jeans quickly and touched several parts of his body to check what Buffy asked.

"I'm okay. No damage" He concluded.

Buffy stared at him from head to toes to check herself. She didn't find nothing more than some bruises.

"We get back to work?" Faith asked impatiently.

Buffy and Xander exchanged a quick glance. Buffy sighed with lassitude and Xander offered her a sympathetic smile. Then, both friends followed the former rogue Slayer.

-----------------------------------------

Faith kicked the vampire in front of her in his shinbone before elbowing violently in his face another one who was about to attack her from behind. The aforementioned vampire stepped back several feet away and bumped into one of his counterparts who was trying to escape Buffy's blows.

Faith turned around sharply to face this enemy and both Slayers took advantage of the confusion following the shock of the two vampires bumping into each other to dust them at the same time.

A brief light of appraisal passed in their eyes before they got back to the fight.

"Six for Buffy and five for Faith!" Xander yelled from where he sat, on a stele at a distance from the battlefield.

The remaining vampire turned surprise eyes to the carpenter and frowned, trying probably to understand what he meant. Faith took advantage of this brief lapse in concentration to send the demon against a crypt's door where she crucified him. When he had disappeared in dust, Faith scrubbed her hands with a satisfied smirk and came to Xander where Buffy was already.

"So?" the dark-haired Slayer asked.

"Six for you both" Xander announced as he looked at a small paper sheet in his hand.

"It's ridiculous!" Buffy exclaimed in an exasperated voice. "It's not a game where we count the points!"

"Why not?" Faith asked. "There's nothing wrong to put some fun in this"

Saying this, she gave her hand to Xander to get him to his feet.

"I thought killing vampires was fun enough for you" Buffy grumbled and resumed walking between the tombstones.

"Most of the times, it is" Faith confirmed. "But why not get more fun when you can?"

Buffy shrugged.

"I wonder more and more why you don't patrol more often with the Slayers. If you're all about the contest, you'd have lot of opponents!"

Faith smirked.

"It ain't no fun if it's not with the infamous Buffy Summers!"

Buffy looked at her for a second, wondering if she was kidding or not.

"It's not a game" she repeated.

Then, after thinking a second, she added:

"But if you really wanna play, I heard Kennedy's really good"

Faith winced.

"Yeah, that's what I heard too. And I saw her at work, she's not too bad"

"She's been trained since she was kind and her training with Will seems to do her good" Xander noticed.

"She's naturally skilled" Buffy said. "All those Slayers are not equals when it comes to the…"

The blonde Slayer searched for the good word to say what she meant.

"Slaying?" She asked, arching a questioning eyebrow to her comrades.

Faith shrugged with disregard for that matter. The three young people went on wandering trough the cemetery in silence. But just three minutes later, both Slayers stopped dead in their tracks and looked at the same point in the distance. Xander was already three steps away from the girls when he noticed he was the only one left to move. He came back to them with a questioning look on his face.

"What? Your super-senses smelled a rat?"

"Vampires" Faith explained seriously.

"I feel them too" Buffy confirmed. "And something else…" she added.

She seemed really concentrated, all her attention turned to the aforementioned direction.

"They found a prey…"

As she finished her sentence, both Slayers had already left running.

"Hey!" Xander exclaimed when he saw them start this way. "Wait!"

He ran after them, trying to catch up with them but unable to get closer despite his best efforts. Before he had crossed a hundred meters, he saw the girls arriving near a group of three vampires. Faith knocked the first one almost out with her first blow and Buffy easily dusted him. The dark-haired Slayer turned then to the other two, closely followed by her blonde counterpart. When Xander finally arrived, he saw a human figure huddled up on the group, back against a tombstone and face hidden in arms. The young man cast a glance to the Slayers and saw a second disappear in dust under the blonde Slayer's stake, as Faith was about to finish the last one off.

The carpenter went closer to the shaking figure who hadn't moved in the least since their arrival. Buffy caught up with him and they bent over the victim together.

The Slayer put a reassuring hand on the young woman's shoulder.

"It's okay" she said. "They're gone"

Saying this, she cast a quick glance behind her to confirm Faith was done with the last vampire. When she saw the dark-haired Slayer brush the dust off her hands, she felt relieved and turned again to the victim of the attack.

"You're gonna be okay" she said, her hand still on the girl's shoulder.

"Are you hurt?" Xander asked.

The sound of their voices made the young woman react. She slowly moved her hands aside her face and began to stand up. Long blond hair fell on her frail shoulders and in front of her eyes before she shake it and laid her eyes on them.

"Oh my God…" Xander blurted out.

Both friends felt like they stopped breathing at the same time. Air remained blocked in their lungs and they felt like their hearts had missed a beat or two. Buffy's mouth remained stupidly half-opened as she gazed at the familiar face, unable to pronounce a sound.

"So, Xan, how many?

Faith's loud and abrupt voice didn't even make them jump. And none of them bothered to turn to the dark-haired Slayer. And finally, Buffy managed to move her lips enough to articulate in a low voice:

"Tara?"


	4. Act 3

**Act 3**

"Tara?" Buffy repeated in a dazed tone.

The blonde Slayer stared at the young woman in front of her. She wore a worn white shirt and dirty, used and torn jeans and Buffy couldn't say if this was consecutive to the attack or was older. Buffy looked for hint of bites or wounds and felt relieved to find none.

Her gaze lingered on the long and thin legs, the fine arms and waistband and she noticed how she looked like frailer than in her memories. Her eyes traveled then to the girl's face. The blonde hair was longer and tousled and dirty as was her pale and tired face. Buffy stared at the features with thoroughness, as she was hypnotized by the vision in front of her. She stared at the cheekbones, the full lips puckered up in an hesitant wince, the long eyelashes, the lost gaze. She gazed into blue eyes laid on her and flinched, glimpsing behind the crazed gaze a light once so well known.

Her blurred mind was buzzing with questions. All sort of ideas, from the craziest to the most pessimistic were dancing in her head in a kaleidoscope of pictures concertinaing in front of her eyes like an association of films having nothing to do with each other. She didn't dare to believe what her eyes told her. After these years of mourning, these months of indecisiveness, guilt, hesitance, these last weeks of anguished wait and wrung forsaking, she COULDN'T believe it. Had life been already so kind to offer her that sort of gift? She tried desperately to master her feelings and to make her brain working again.

"Tara?" she heard beside her.

She turned to Xander who was looking at her with surprise and worry.

"Buff, do you think that…?"

But Buffy had no clue to answer the question her friend didn't dare to ask. For a moment, they looked at each other and searched in the other one's gaze what to do.

"B-Buffy?"

The voice made Buffy shiver from head to toes. It was a little hoarser than what she remembered but she recognized it as hers. The Slayer recognized the tone, the halting stutter being Tara's.

And to the sound of the blonde witch's voice, all control Buffy barely kept over herself for some minutes, disappeared all at once. A flood of emotions crashed down on the Slayer like a wave and overwhelmed her entirely. And the obviousness was there, just the pronunciation of her own name : it was really Tara in front of her. The initial wavering was brushed away by this absolute certainty that Buffy felt stirring, growing and imposing from deep inside herself. The Slayer then gave up any caution and question and opened her arms before throwing herself in the woman's arms as tears began to pour on her cheeks.

"Tara! Oh God, Tara!"

Tara didn't react to the blonde Slayer's hug but she didn't even notice as she was too much engulfed in her own world. She didn't notice either when Xander did as Buffy and wrapped his strong arms around both girls.

Remained some steps behind, Faith considered that sudden tenderness for a survivor, shared between bewilderment and dismay. She crossed her arms over her chest with a bored look on her face and tried without succeeding to understand what was taking place in front of her.

"Hum, did I muff something or you just miss a real lot to save lives?" she finally asked after admitting none logical explanation would come to her mind.

Her mocking question didn't get an answer, not even any reaction. Faith came closer and watched. She tried to make the girl they had just saved out but she was hidden under Buffy's and Xander's hug and the only thing Faith could was the woman's long blonde hair.

The brunette Slayer suddenly felt really uneasy to witness something she guessed was a particular moment for her two companions. She thought to just disappear to leave them alone but finally decided against it, thinking they could need her as they seemed really agitated.

So Faith just waited for them to remember she was there.

Did she wait for an eternity or just some seconds? She couldn't tell. But eventually, Xander released the two young women and stepped back enough to let Buffy and the stranger breathe. The blonde Slayer wiped quickly a tear from her face and without totally letting go of the girl, stepped back in her turn.

Faith could finally the see the newcomer's face. It seemed somewhat familiar to Faith but she couldn't tell exactly what ii remained her of. Long blond hair framed a pale face dirtied by tears and dust. Big blue eyes contrasted with the cheeks' paleness. Deep rings dug the delicate features. Faith thought the girl looked like a little lost animal.

"What's up B?" She grumbled. "You know who's this girl?"

It took half a second to Buffy and Xander to realize Faith was still there and that she was talking to them. Xander finally drifted her gaze away from the blonde and turned to her.

"It's Tara" He said in a slightly trembling voice, as it was enough to explain the current situation.

Faith thought that it probably should: the name and the face were somewhat familiar but she couldn't remember something clear about the girl that would allow her to understand what was happening. Xander probably read on her face she didn't understand better but before he could add something, Buffy tugged at his sleeve to get his attention back.

"We're gonna get her to the hotel"

Xander turned again to the blondes. Buffy was still holding Tara and was looking at her with a worried look. Tara was shaking violently and looked like she was barely aware of her surroundings. And Buffy remembered only too well that post-traumatic state she had herself known.

"Tara" She said gently. "You're safe with us. It's Buffy and Xander. We're gonna take you with us. You'll be able to rest. We're gonna take care of you"

She didn't really know what to say. She could relate to how Tara could feel cause she went through that before. But she was still at a loss to know what Tara could understand or need. Offering comforting words and behavior seemed evident and the only thing she could do right now.

Buffy stood up and tried to get Tara to her feet. She wanted to follow Buffy but her legs gave in beneath her. The blonde Slayer caught her before she fell to the ground and Xander was immediately beside her to help her up. Even Faith made a gesture to help.

"We have to get her to the hotel." Buffy repeated. "She's exhausted. Xander?"

The young man smiled to Buffy, then to Tara as he turned to her. He ran his arm around her waist and was about to lift her in his arms when Faith came closer.

"Let me Xan" She said. "Slayer strength" she added showing her arms.

Xander boggled and Faith was ready to do as she said but Tara slipped behind Xander when the dark-haired Slayer was about to touch her with a slightly afraid look on her face.

Faith couldn't help but feel hurt by Tara's reaction but she didn't show anything more than a little surprise.

Xander gave her an apologic smile and put his arms under Tara to lift her from the ground.

"Thanks Faith" He said smiling to her then to Tara. "But a friend strength is sometimes better."

---------------------------------------

A discreet knock made Xander slightly jump. But Buffy was already at the door and half opened it to see who was behind. She opened wide to let Giles in before closing the door again immediately. The former Watcher came closer to the bed with hurry and care at the same time. When he was close enough, he stopped and stared at the hunched figure on the bed. Tara was sleeping and the many jolts and shivers shaking her body, pointed out her sleep wasn't really restful.

"Dear Lord" Giles finally managed to get out after gazing at her for a moment.

Then he looked up to Buffy and Xander. Each of them was standing on each side of the bed and looked like they were waiting for Giles to say something. He sighed and looked back at Tara.

"What happened exactly?" He finally asked.

"We were patrolling with Faith" Buffy began. "We found her in the cemetery. She got attacked by vampires"

Giles looked up abruptly to her words and Buffy raised a reassuring hand.

"She didn't get hurt. We arrived in time."

Giles nodded.

"Where's Faith?"

Buffy gestured to show clearly she had no idea.

"We asked her not to talk about this. I'm not worried about this."

Giles nodded again. Then he put something out of his coat and sat on a chair near the bed.

"What's this?" Buffy suspiciously asked as she looked at the black cube Giles was now holding in his palm.

"A…" Giles began.

Then she looked at Buffy who was watching him expectantly and corrected himself:

"Let's say it's a magical cube"

"And what do you plan to do with this?" Buffy asked again.

"Check if she's human" Giles answered calmly.

"Giles!" Buffy exclaimed in a reproachful voice.

The Watcher looked at her severely.

"I have to Buffy. We have to be sure it's really her"

"Giles, the doc already came to examine her from every angle. Can you just leave her alone?"

"It'll just take a minute and she won't even feel anything, don't worry."

Saying this, Giles approached the cube to Tara's naked arm under Buffy's glare. With his free hand, he got a phial out of his pocket and poured some seeds from it on the cube and on the witch's skin while chanting quietly words in Latin.

At first, nothing happened and Buffy saw her former Watcher frown heavily. Then the cube's color changed slightly to gray then to a vibrating green. Buffy looked for a relieved light in Giles' eyes but found none. His face remained severe as he got back the cube and put it on the dresser behind him. He stepped back in his chair and went on to stare at Tara.

"Giles" Buffy eventually said impatiently as Giles remained silent.

"So?" Xander tried to help her.

Giles didn't seem to react to their questions and took off his glasses to clean them without taking his eyes off Tara. Finally, after what seemed an eternity to both friends, he whispered in a low and tired voice:

"God, he did it"

"What?" Buffy immediately asked.

Giles finally turned to her and wiped his glasses a final time.

"He did it. Gideon did it. She's human"

"You don't look like too much happy" Xander asked with surprise.

Buffy came closer to Giles and an understanding look printed on her face.

"You thought he couldn't do it Giles? Or that he wouldn't do it?"

Giles put his glasses back on his nose and gazed at the Slayer.

"No, I never believed for any second that he would accept. And even less that he would actually do it"

They stared at each other for a moment in silence and it couldn't be said if Buffy was just surprise or rather furious.

"Why send us there then?" She eventually asked.

"I thought you'd give up if a powerful warlock refuse to do it. I thought you needed to hear it was impossible from those practicing that kind of things"

Again silence. Xander finally interrupted it and asked carefully to change the subject:

"What did the doc say?"

Giles felt relieved and he turned to him with a good smile.

"She said she seemed to be healthy but is totally drained up"

"Did she tell how she gets there?" Giles asked after a pause.

Both friends shook their head together.

"No. She didn't really talk" Buffy whispered. "And she fell asleep almost immediately when we settled her here"

"What does the doc think?" Xander asked.

"Marisha thinks she walked for a long time, hours, maybe days, which explains partly her exhaustion"

"Partly?" Xander asked.

"It's hard to tell right now but her weakness could be due to her resurrection…"

Saying this, Giles gazed intently at Buffy.

"I didn't have physical relapses after my resurrection when I came back Giles"

"The process here is different" The watcher replied abruptly.

A new heavy silence fell on the room, while Giles stared at the sleeping girl once again.

"Giles, are we sure…" Xander began.

"The medical examination didn't show any anomaly and the cube tells us she's human. And you seem to be pretty much sure…"

"It's her" Buffy said with conviction. "I'm sure Giles. As sure as I know you're you"

Giles considered her for a second without saying anything.

"And how are you sure it's really me?"

Buffy looked at him with surprise and grinned with amusement before answering:

"That typical nonsense question for example. Or that trademark look on your face when you're annoyed. Or the way you're cleaning your glasses fifty times a day"

Giles stopped the piece of cloth he used to carefully scrub his glasses and looked up to Buffy who was looking at him with a triumphant smile. Then, he put his glasses back on his nose and coughed slightly to clear his throat.

"Hum, well. How do you think to proceed?"

"Proceed what?" Xander asked.

"For Tara" Giles clarified. "For Dawn. For Willow."

Xander and Buffy exchanged a glance.

"We don't really talked about that" Xander said.

"We'll wait for Tara to wake up to see how she feels before doing anything."

Giles nodded.

"Seems wise to me. But…"

He stared at them intently again, then at Tara.

"Be careful. For Willow, it could be…tough"

"We know this Giles" Xander seriously replied. "We'll be as delicate as possible"

"Tara will probably need some time to adapt herself" the former Watcher whispered. "Have you thought about this too?"

Both friends nodded altogether.

"I delayed my return to Rome once more." Buffy said. "I don't exactly when I'll get back but it won't be before things get clear"

"Good, good." Giles admitted.

Then he looked at his watch at his wrist before looking up to Buffy and Xander again.

"We should go and get some sleep" He said. "It's very late and you both look terrible"

Buffy shook her head.

"We can't leave Tara alone. I'm staying."

"I can stay too" Xander said despite the weariness he started to feel.

"I'm the Slayer" Buffy added. "I don't need sleep"

"Even Slayers need to sleep" Giles replied. "Especially retired Slayers. I'm going to stay with her" he added firmly.

"I'm not leaving her alone" Buffy protested stubbornly.

"She won't be alone. You really look tired. And tomorrow will probably be a hard day. Some rest might be useful"

Buffy was about to protest again but Xander's hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Buff, I think he's right" The young man said. "Tara'll need us in good form"

Buffy looked at Xander Giles one after the other and gave in.

"Good. I think I can use some hours of sleep" she admitted.

Giles smiled.

"It's a wise decision," he concluded.

But while Xander already left the room, the blonde Slayer stood still in front of Giles, a half-smile on her lips, a hopeful light in her eyes.

"Maybe I can sleep here? In the armchair?"

-----------------------------------------------

The sweet light of a generous sun was beaming through half-drawn curtains when Buffy opened her eyes. She stretched her stiffened legs and straightened her sore neck, because of the few hours she had just slept, hunched in an armchair near Tara's bed. Giles had finally let her sleep there as she had stubbornly asked until he gave in. The former Watcher had just leave to get some rest in his own room a few moments before.

The Slayer turned to the bed. Tara was still sleeping. She seemed calm. Buffy had had a lot of trouble to fall asleep the night before, as her friend seemed to be prey to terrible nightmares. Buffy remembered having bad dreams for weeks after her resurrection. But she couldn't remember something as violent as those shaking the witch in her sleep. And it was only when Tara had a break that Buffy had been able to let herself slip into darkness.

The Slayer got up and walked some steps in the room to bring the circulation back to her legs. She came closer to the window quietly, being really careful not to wake the witch up. She leant against the window and looked outside. It was a beautiful day. Buffy couldn't help but smile. Even if she knew there would be difficulties on their roads, Tara was there, less than two feet from her. It could only be a beautiful day.

"B-Buffy?"

The Slayer turned around when she heard her name and saw the witch's blue eyes staring at her as she was sitting up slowly. Buffy smiled affectionately and came closer before sitting on the bed carefully.

"Hey" She whispered. "How are you?"

"F-Fine" Tara got out with some difficulties.

Buffy frowned when she heard Tara stuttering, something she couldn't remember the with doing long before her death.

"Do you need something?" she gently asked.

The blonde looked like she wavered and thought about what she could need. Buffy remembered then how hard it had been for her to focus on the simplest things at first and decided to help her a little.

"Something to drink? To eat? You must be hungry or thirsty"

Tara seemed to give it some thinking then nodded.

"I li… I like to drink plea-please"

Buffy smiled and got up to rush to the bathroom adjoining the room. She was back almost immediately with a glass of water. She sat back on the bed and handed the glass to Tara. The with took it carefully and sipped two teeny mouthfuls. Tara stretched her arm to put the glass on the nightstand and Buffy hurried to do it for her.

"Better?" the Slayer asked.

Tara nodded shyly. Then she looked away from Buffy to look at the window. Buffy saw her blink to the luminance before turning to her again. Tara leant against the wall behind her and closed her eyes. Buffy stared at her in silence. Tara's face didn't seem to be more rested or serene to her than the night before. She was still pale-faced and clenched jaw plastered a grin of pain or intense focus on her face. Buffy's eyes then went down from the crumpled face trough the witch's thin arms. The Slayer noticed Tara's fingers gripping nervously the sheet under her. Buffy moved her hand forward and put it gently on the witch's one. She jumped slightly to the contact and opened her eyes. Buffy offered an apologic smile and decided to ask the question burning her lips since the woman had awoken:

"Tara, do you…" she began, not knowing how to ask. "Do you know… Do you know what…"

"I do" Tara cut her almost abruptly.

She lowered her eyes immediately to her joined hands and resumed in a sweeter tone, so low that Buffy had to prick up her ears to hear her.

"They told me. They brought me back"

The Slayer felt her heart constricting violently in her chest when she heard the hint of anguish Tara had let escape. She wondered a second if Gideon and his minions could have maltreat her friend and a dull rage built up in her. She imagined herself turning up suddenly at the coven's to ask for an explanation, with an army of Slayers at her back if necessary. Tara's low voice brought her back to reality.

"I'm fine Buffy"

Buffy focused again on Tara who tried to show a reassuring look.

"What… what do you known?" The Slayer asked after a time.

Tara's face crumpled again and she looked down.

"It's been two years…" She whispered. "Xander and you came to see Gideon around a month ago. And I think I'm in Cleveland"

Buffy nodded.

"How did you get here?" she asked.

"A tele-teleporation spell I think"

"When? Do you know?"

Tara shook her head.

"No exactly. It's a little…a little bit blurred. I…I walked without really knowing where I was heading. And then… Then you were there"

The witch fell silent again and her eyes want back to her nervous hands. She wanted to say something and her mouth opened to talk but closed again without her actually saying something. Buffy wanted to ask new questions but her friend seemed to be prey to a big stress and the Slayer knew only to well that she probably didn't want to talk about what had happened to her right now. She then remained silent and waited. Tara struggled against herself for several minutes before finally deciding to ask Buffy some questions in her turn.

"Is… Is…"

She had a hard time to get the words out and Tara bit her lower lip, hating the shaking in her voice that prevented her to finish her sentence. Buffy put again her hand on the witch's one to urge her to go on.

"Is…" Tara resumed, as she tried to control herself. "Is Will…"

Buffy suddenly realized what Tara was trying to ask her and scolded herself for not anticipating her request.

"Yeah. She is. Willow is there. And she's fine. And you can see her soon. And…"

"And Dawn?" Tara interrupted.

Buffy's smile got wider to her sister's name.

"She's there too. And she'll be so happy to see you again. She missed you so much. We all missed you so much Tara"

Saying this, Buffy squeezed Tara's hand in hers a little harder than before. Both girls looked at each other for a moment in silence and Buffy realized all the things Tara didn't know, all the things that had changed during the last two years.

"Listen…" The Slayer began.

"I'd like to clean myself" Tara said suddenly.

Buffy stopped whatever she was ready to say and smiled again.

"Okay, okay, no problem" She answered.

"Simple things first" The Slayer scolded herself. "Rest can wait"

"I think you have everything you need in the bathroom" Buffy said to her friend. "I'm gonna help you, you're still weak"

Saying this, Buffy helped Tara to stand and the witch nodded. Buffy leaded her to the bathroom and checked that everything Tara would need was there. Then she sat Tara on the edge of the bathtub as she made water pour. When she was done, Buffy considered Tara's dirty and torn clothes.

"Have your bath, I'm gonna find some clean clothes for you to wear"

Tara nodded without saying anything and put her hand in the water to check the temperature. Buffy looked at her doing so and turned to the door.

"See you soon" she said simply.

When she was about to cross the threshold, Tara's voice hit her ears.

"Buffy"

The Slayer turned around and faced the witch again.

"Thank you" Tara said simply.

Buffy just smiled in response.

----------------------------------------

Faith deeply sighed as she looked at the door in front of her. She turned to her right to see Andrew looking at her with an hesitant half-smile on his face.

"It's here" He said.

"I got it" Faith grumbled. "Thanks" She added.

They looked at each other without none of them moving, then finally Andrew understood she was waiting for him to leave.

"Well, good luck then" He said in an embarrassed tone as he left.

Faith watched him leaving without saying anything then looked again at the door. She put her hand on the doorknob, hesitated a last second then resolutely opened.

On the other side of the door, a dozen feet from Faith, was a big table. Four men and two women sat there. Giles was in the middle, Robin Wood beside him. Faith thought she already saw some of the others, but wasn't totally sure.

"Faith" Giles welcomed her in a benevolent voice. "We're happy to meet you. Please sit down"

Saying this, he stood and gestured to an armchair in front of the table. Faith obeyed and sat where she had been told. She felt herself extremely uneasy to be settled there, in front of eight people staring at her. She tried to hide her discomfort and to be as relaxed as she could but she was pretty sure they could her discomfort as clearly as her shirt's color.

"Faith" Giles resumed. "As I told you before, the council wants to meet you to evaluate with you your activities lately"

He fell silent and gestured to another man to go on. He was tall and black-haired and wore a beard. Faiths remembered having sometimes see him in the hotel's corridors but didn't remember his name.

"Miss Lehane" He began. "I'm gonna do a quick remainder of the last events related to you. You can correct me if I'm wrong about something"

He then looked at her expectantly, probably waiting for her to confirm. Seeing she had no reaction at all, he finally resumed, looking at a notebook in front of him.

"After your jailbreak, you came in Sunnydale with Miss Rosenberg where you took an active part in the battle and the victory over an entity called the First under Buffy's Summers' command. You had yourself lead the potentials for a time and the shared that responsibility with Miss Summers during a descent in the hellmouth."

He stopped and looked at Faith to see if she had something to say. As she was still silent, he resumed his monologue:

"After the victory and all the Slayers' awakening by Miss Rosenberg, you came to England with a false identity with Mr. Wood here to take part to the gathering and training of Slayers in London. Then you came back to Cleveland where you help was needed and take part to the groups missions for a time before fulfilling alone missions. Am I right?"

The man gazed at Faith again as he stopped talking. The Slayer jumped slightly when she noticed he was asking her something but nodded though. Satisfied, the man went on:

"Since then , you're staying away from the other Slayers, never taking part to the youngest Slayers training nor working with them. You turn down collective missions to fulfill just alone ones away from Cleveland."

Again, the man waited for Faith to nod. As she didn't react, a woman from the other of the table spoke in her turn.

"Miss Lehane, we are all perfectly aware of your…atypical career."

A steel glance fell on Faith and she suddenly felt even more ill-at-ease than before.

"We're not here to judge you or to dwell on the past in any way. But the council wants to be sure we can count on you. The Slayers awakening gives us all new responsibilities and duties and having you here would be helpful"

The woman fell silent to let her words sink in.

"We just want you to know we're counting on you Faith, to take the role that should be yours in our organization. Do you understand?"

Faith met the woman's gaze gain. The Slayer looked at the other members of the assemblage. All were looking at her with the same engaging smile.

"Faith" The woman resumed in a gentler tone. "We're all on the same side. But we expect more from you in the future"

----------------------------------------------

Buffy lightly knocked but didn't wait for an answer to open and run her head through the opening. Tara was sitting on the bed and was looking at her. Buffy came in and closed the door behind her.

"Are you feeling any better?"

The witch nodded.

"I do. Thank you. I-I slept all the time since your last visit. What-what time is it?"

"Nearly half past seven"

"Oh my God, I slept all day!" Tara exclaimed with an horrified look on her face.

Buffy came closer and she sat on the bed beside the witch.

"You needed this. Giles said you were totally exhausted. He thinks you walked for a long time and…"

Tara nodded and Buffy fell silent.

"I'm better"

"Good. What do you wanna eat? I'll someone bringing our dinner here. Xander should arrive too"

"Buffy, it's really nice from you but I'm fine. I can move"

"I think it'll be better if you stay here tonight" Buffy protested.

Tara shook her head.

"I'm fine, I promise"

Tara's clear blue eyes settled on the Slayer's face.

"Do…Do Dawn and Willow know that… I'm here?"

Buffy was caught out by the blunt of the question.

"Hum… No, not yet" She replied, a little embarrassed. "I thought it would be better to wait for you to be ready to tell them"

"I'm ready"

Tara's voice was firm and her gaze locked into Buffy's, determined.

"Are you feeling ready to see then?" Buffy gently repeated. "Are you sure?"

Tara nodded.

"Yes, please"

"Okay" Buffy said, nodding thoughtfully. "Okay. We're gonna see Dawn first if that's fine with you"

"Perfect"

"Can you walk? I'm gonna help."

Buffy stood up and helped Tara to get to her feet. The witch didn't have any evident difficulty but buffy nevertheless insisted to hold Tara by her waist during all their walk in the hotel's corridors.

It took them a few minutes to reach Dawn's room. Buffy gestured to Tara to wait on the side and knocked before opening her sister's door.

"Hey, Dawn"

The younger Summers looked up from the book she was reading and smiled to her sister.

"Buffy. I was wondering where you had disappeared. I think Will and Kennedy are about to go in search of you!"

She closed her book and put it on the nightstand as Buffy stepped forward in the room.

"You're acting weird lately" Dawn went on. "I…"

"Dawn" Buffy interrupted in a gently voice that made her sister shut up immediately. "I have something…"

She stopped and frowned.

"You were kidding right? About Will and Kennedy going in search of me?"

Dawn almost laughed.

"I was! But they would probably had if you haven't reappeared…"

"Good." Buffy resumed in the same tone as previously. "I was kinda busy, that's right. But you'll see it was for something really important. Something I wanna show you…"

Buffy looked at her sister and seeing her attention focused on her, she stepped back to the door and opened it wide. Tara's thin figure appeared in the doorstep and the witch offered a pale smile to the teenager.

Dawn's jaw and eyes opened wide and the young Summers put her hands in front of her mouth as she looked like unable to make another single muscle move.

"Oh my God" She managed to get out.

-------------------------------------------------------

"Oh my God"

Shock was obvious in the young Slayer's stance and she was staring at the young woman in front of her as she wanted to test in this face the reality of what was happening.

Tara stepped forward in the room, sketched a half-smile full of tenderness towards Dawn. And for the first time since they had found her in the cemetery, Buffy saw something else on her face than confusion or fear.

"Tara…" Dawn whispered and her voice faded away with the last syllable.

The young Summers stared at her sister, looking for an answer, for a confirmation. Buffy's benevolent gaze, her clouded eyes and her slight nod freed Dawn's petrified muscles. The teenager released her breath she was holding since the witch's appearance and threw herself brutally in her arms. Tara returned the hug with obvious pleasure, though oppressed by Dawn's sudden proximity.

Buffy watched the scene in silence, more touched than she would never admit and didn't intervene until after several minutes of choked sobbing in the witch's arms, Dawn finally stepped back and asked, not really addressing clearly Buffy nor Tara:

"How?"

Her questioning gaze went alternately from Buffy to Tara. Buffy came closer the two young woman who weren't totally apart yet and she took each of them by an arm.

"Let's sit please"

Tara and Dawn nodded and they crossed the distance to the bed, Dawn gripping Tara's arm as letting go of her even just for a sec could have made her disappear. They all sat on Dawn's bed and the teenager let naturally her head rest on Tara's shoulder while the witch was squeezing gently her hand. Buffy couldn't help but be touched by the scene and she needed some seconds to control her feelings and to begin:

"Dawn…"

But the Slayer couldn't go any further. There was the noise of stampede in the corridor, choked laughs and a grinning redhead storm bounced in the room, immediately followed by a dark-haired Slayer then by a totally out of breath young man.

"It's, it's unfair…I don't have your metabolism…" Xander said, half folded in two, trying desperately to regain his breath.

He stood up, surprised by the sudden silence around him and searched for Willow or Kennedy's gaze. The brunette Slayer looked alternately the trio near the bed and Willow with her brows furrowed. Willow had lost her smile and her happy mood from the instant before had vanished. Xander just had to turn slightly his head to what Willow was absent-mindedly staring at to understand her forever best friend's dazed state.

In front of her, Buffy was now up, looking worriedly at her. Tara had got up and her face was a storm of too many emotions to just name one. Dawn, still sitting, still holding Tara's hand, looked alternately to her sister and to both witches, understanding the solemnity of the moment. For a moment, it seemed to everyone that time had stopped passing by and had trapped them in those watching positions for ever.

And finally, it was Willow's choked, shaking, weak voice that broke the silence:

"Tara?"


	5. Act 4

**Act 4**

Willow was running in the corridors with Kennedy on her heels and the witch was doing anything in her power to destabilize her pursuer.

"Will! Don't run!" Kennedy yelled. "I'm a Slayer, I'll get there before you!"

"Hey, girls, you could wait for m!" Xander's voice exclaimed from far behind.

Willow turned at a corner and flattened herself against the wall. When Kennedy emerged in her turn, Willow shot her leg down to trip her up. Surprised, Kennedy fell forward. But thanks to her Slayer reflexes, she rolled skillfully on the ground and got immediately to her feet to chase Willow again as the witch had already took off.

"Willow! You're cheating!" The Slayer yelled.

"You're a Slayer, we have to use any possible trick if we wanna win against you in a race" Xander said as he finally arrived beside her.

Kennedy grinned.

"I'm a Slayer, you can't defeat me!" She said before leaving to run after Willow. "If Will gets to Dawn's before me, the kid's gonna make fun of me for the rest of my life!"

"I'll meet you there!" Xander screamed after her.

Then he took off himself. He didn't have to run too long before finding both girls a corridor away. Kennedy had caught up with Willow and had begun to make her pay for perfidy by tickling her.

"Xander! Help!" She yelled between hysterical laughs when she saw him arriving.

The young watched the scene shared between amusement and tenderness.

"I think she's good Kennedy," He said finally.

The Slayer released her prey who leant against the wall behind her to catch her breath. Kennedy ran her hand tenderly in her girlfriend's hair.

"You're so pretty when you're laughing" she said with a satisfied smile on her face.

"Flatterer" Willow replied, smiling back.

The young man considered the scene a moment with a halting-smile on his face.

"Well, it's not that all this is not really cute but what about actually getting Dawn for dinner? I'm starving" He finally interrupted.

"I'm in" Kennedy approved and raised her hand.

"And I'll be first. Right Xander?" Willow exclaimed and took off as quickly as possible.

Xander didn't need more to understand Willow's message and he grabbed Kennedy around her waist as she was about to follow her girlfriend.

"Hey!" She protested.

"I'm trying to help" Xander explained with a fake sorry smile before releasing her and trying to follow the girls' pace.

Willow soon crossed the distance to Dawn's room. Kennedy had quickly almost joined her and Willow was the one to cross the young Summers' threshold first with an elated look on her face.

But what she discovered was far from what she expected to find; and any victory cry died on her lips with her laugh when she saw the three girls in front of her in the room.

And when her eyes met blue eyes, all too well know, all too much buried in a corner of her memory, of a young woman she wasn't destined to see again, she felt like the ground was opening under her feet.

That precise moment, Buffy had probably imagined it dozens of times.

She had imagined that Willow would be busy to do something and that she would watch her for a moment from the doorstep before making her presence known. In her fantasies, Willow would smile to her, would gave her that poor smile Buffy was so used to for so much months now. They would exchanged some unimportant words, about the weather, about their jobs, about anything. And Buffy would have tell she had something important for her. The witch would have probably asked what, simulating a bigger interest than what she was really feeling. Buffy would have left the room again, would have take Tara by her hand to pull her into the room where Willow was waiting.

And then everything would have changed. Willow would have probably blinked once or twice to be sure it wasn't a dream. And when she would have realized it wasn't a dream, she would have smiled again. Smiled as Buffy hadn't seen her smile in a long time. Smiled as she had thought she would never smile again. Smiled as she had seen her smile in that cruel scene Gideon had made her watch. REALLY smiled.

Buffy would have seen a new light in her eyes. She would have seen there life dance again after disappearing two years before with Tara's death. She would have seen joy, happiness, maybe gratitude, without any doubt, love when finally Willow would have got up to get to Tara. The blonde witch would have opened her arms and both young women would have sealed their reunion, ready to take back their life where it had stopped too brutally, where it should have never stopped.

And Buffy would have wanted to disappear, to let them at their happiness. But she wouldn't have been able to. The desire to stay there, to watch that precious moment would have been stronger. The desire to drink in the witches' happiness her own part of tranquility, to find here the satisfaction to have –at last – achieve something good and personal. The satisfaction to learn that death wasn't her only gift.

'Cause in font of her eyes, it wouldn't have been only to Tara's resurrection she would have taken part in, but to Willow's too. Willow, the friend who had chosen to stay to fight beside her when another brilliant and demonsless life was offered for her. Somewhere else.

Yeah, Buffy had played and played again that scene too often in her head to be ready to the one she was watching now.

Because Willow's face wasn't lightened by the brightening smile Buffy had dreamt about. And if Willow was up, it was to step back to hurt the wall behind her.

In her gaze, there was no joy, no happiness nor light of life.

But what Buffy could see there were too many emotions for Willow to bear and that she was trying to fight to hold onto reality.

Incomprehension, pain, memory, love, hope. All those feelings were entwined, entangled with each other, passed successively on the witch's crumpled face.

And what Buffy could see better than anything playing on Willow's face was far to be what she had expected. She had expected Willow to be overwhelmed by her emotions, torn apart by contradictory feelings.

But Buffy had never doubted for a second that what would shout out from that initial torment – the strongest, the most natural impulse, the one that would break every others without letting them a single chance, would be the unconditional love Willow still felt about Tara.

But far from that love impulse that should have reunited her two friends, the most evident feeling Buffy could read on Willow's face was fear. An helpless fear that made the readhead shake violently and prevented her to make a sound as her eyes were roaming on the body of the blonde in front of her, looking for a clue that all this was just her imagination.

When finally she was able to make her mouth work again, it was to pronounce a name, a single name:

"Tara?"

There were tears in that word, question and hope too. The blonde in front of her raised slightly her hand forward but seemed as unable as herself to talk and any sound she was about to say choked in her throat. Their eyes misted over with tears met. Willow felt her heart pounding wildly in her chest and her body started to shake helplessly even more. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply to try to fight the emotion she felt overwhelming her. When she opened her eyes again, Tara hadn't moved at all and was still looking at her. Willow turned slightly her head and saw Xander and Kennedy looking worriedly at her. The world seemed suddenly turn in slow motion, then quickening until whirling round her like a farandole. Colors became brighter before turning dark, sounds choked before becoming deafening.

Then, Willow had certainly the last reaction Buffy could have foreseen. Her muscles suddenly tensed and the witch turned back to bounce all at once out of the room.

Kennedy needed some seconds to realize what was happening. She looked at the door where Willow had just disappeared, then turned to Buffy, Dawn and that blonde girl she had never seen before and whose face was distorted by an indefinable emotion. Willow's voice the second before rang again in her ears and every pieces of the puzzle fell into place.

"Tara" Kennedy repeated in a disbelieving tone. "How?" She added in a whisper.

The brunette Slayer's question made Buffy get back to reality as Willow's reaction had left her speechless.

"Kennedy" She said as suddenly remembering her presence. "It's Tara. It has nothing to do with you" she explained. "We've been able to bring her back 'cause…"

"You?" Kennedy interrupted in a very much firmer tone than before.

"You?" Dawn repeated and turned to her sister.

"Xander and I" Buffy précised. "And a man called Gideon and all a coven" she added quickly.

"You?" Kennedy repeated. "Willow didn't know ?"

"No, no, of course not" Buffy quickly answered. "I wanted to tell her… differently"

"Tara" Kennedy said again and turned to stare at the young woman.

Her voice was now shaking with anger. Her eyes roamed over Tara before moving to Xander and then to Buffy.

"How could you?" She suddenly exploded. "How could you do that to Willow? How could you do that NOW?"

"Kennedy…" Buffy tried to explain and stepped forward the girl.

But Kennedy turned back, didn't listen, didn't look at her and disappeared after Willow.

"You brought her back?" Dawn asked.

She stood and looked at Buffy and Xander one after the other with a severe look on her face.

"Dawn…" Buffy began.

"Is that you?" Dawn insisted in an icy tone.

Buffy gazed at her sister and gave in.

"It's not exactly us. We can't do that. But we found a warlock to do it for us"

"You" Dawn repeated. "You"

The Summers sisters stared at each other in silence until Xander's voice got them out of their trance.

"Tara, are you okay?"

They both turned immediately to the blonde and saw Xander getting closer to support her. Tara nodded but her lost gaze and her shaking hands seemed to show the contrary. Xander put his arm around the witch's waist and Dawn's gaze went back to her sister.

"Look!" She ordered and gestured to the witch with her hand. "How could you do that to her? Especially you?"

"You wanted it!" Buffy replied.

"But doing it?" Dawn asked in a trembling voice.

"Dawn…" Buffy tried in the same tone.

"Dawn… Dawnie…" Tara stepped in and moved her hand forward to the teenager's shoulder. "I'll be fine…"

Dawn turned to Tara. The witch seemed to be even paler then before to Buffy and Xander. The young Summers came back to her and embraced her. Tara started to stroke her hair as she had been so used to in the past.

"I'll be fine Dawnie" She repeated in her sweet voice. "I'll be fine…"

--------------------------------------------------------

Unaware of the tragic events taking place some floors lower, Giles had come back to his office after having dinner alone as he had given up to wait for the scoobies to show up as planned. Giles was slightly annoyed because he hoped to see some points with Willow before she left for Brazil. But he thought that Buffy and Dawn's next departure for Rome had decided the group for an unheralded evening.

"Giles, can I talk to you for a sec?"

The former Watcher jumped slightly and looked up. He was surprised to recognize Faith on the doorstep.

"Come in Faith" He said and gestured to her.

The dark-haired Slayer came in and settled in the armchair in front of Giles.

"What brings you here?" He asked while going on writing in a notebook in front of him.

Faith watched him in silence for a moment then took a pencil in a pot in front of her and nervously tapped the edge of the desk with it. Giles looked up and considered her with curiosity.

"Hum Faith" He said. "Try to be gentle with that pencil. Last time a Slayer played with my pencil, she broke it. With all the Slayers I see lately, it could finally get kinda expensive"

Faith stopped to tap with the pencil and put it back into place. Giles wanted to say he wasn't against her taking on of his pencils if she wanted but finally thought better of it.

"So Faith ? I'm listening to you" He said with a smile.

"Well" the Slayer began. "I gave some thinking to our conversation. And to what the council said this morning"

Giles stopped writing and raised his head before putting his glasses back into place on his nose.

"Well" He said. "Very well. It's a good thing. I'm happy you listened to me Faith, really happy"

"Wait" Faith interrupted and fidgeted on her seat. "Listen first to what I wanna say before getting too much happy"

Giles couldn't quite hide his surprise to the former rogue Slayer's words.

"Hum, is there a problem?" He asked gently.

Faith first looked at him straight in the eye then her gaze searched something else to look at in the room. She hesitated long second before getting out:

"I think I can't work for the council any longer"

Giles felt like an electrical discharge to that statement. His eyes widened in surprised and he sat up abruptly on his seat.

"What do you mean?"

"Look at me Giles. Look at your council. I don't have a place in this."

"You refuse to make your place"

Faith shook her head.

"No, Giles. There's no place here for me. You want me to be a leader and i can't be a leader. And I'm not like all the others? So, there's no place for me."

"Faith, do I have to remind you you're a wanted murderer? I thought you wanted to use your Slayer's powers to pay your debts and make up for your errors? I have to admit that change of mind surprises me"

The Slayer raised her hands as to defend herself.

"Hey, hey, take it easy!" She exclaimed when she saw the serious look on Giles face. "I never said I wanted to disappear and live in the sun"

"And I plan to use my Slayer's powers to make things better if I can" she added seriously.

"I have to admit I don't see where you're going with this"

"Well, I'll go on doing patrols, slaying demons and vampires and stuff. But alone."

Silence fell between them and Giles searched for what to say. He stared carefully to the Slayer's face and finally said:

"I don't really see what it'll change in respect to now"

Faith looked slightly offended but took back her composure quickly:

"You won't have to wait something from me"

There was a silence and they both just stared at each other.

"Faith…" Giles eventually began.

"No" She interrupted. "I really thought about it. And you're right. I can't be there without being actually there when you're counting on me, when those kids are counting on me"

"Faith…" Giles tried again.

"But I can't stop being a Slayer, Giles" Faith went on without letting him talk. "That's the only thing I was ever able to do. I'm not B"

Giles remained silent for a moment, just like Faith who had said everything she had to say. Finally Giles decided to reason with her.

"Faith, I don't think that being alone in that fight is a good idea. And I disagree to let you do that"

"You don't have a choice."

She started to get up but Giles – feeling he was about to loose her – insisted:

"Faith, please wait for a second"

Faith cast him a bored glance but nevertheless sat back.

"Listen" Giles resumed. "I'm ready to admit that the council might put a too great pressure on you. But you shouldn't be alone Faith. It's not the Slayers destiny anymore"

"I'm from the old guard Giles" The dark-haired Slayer objected. "And anyway, they don't truct me"

"Of course they do!" Giles protested.

"Of course they don't" Faith resumed in a calm tone. "They still see the murderer in me. You just remind me yourself that I still have my mistakes to make up for"

"It's not what I meant"

"But you said it"

"Faith" Giles gently insisted. "I don't think that going away, acting alone and taking risks are the best things to do to be forgiven. Beside, the council'll refuse to financially subside to you if you're not available. I'll have a lot of trouble to make other members accept something like this."

"I'm not asking anything from the council, Giles. I'll manage"

She fell silent for a second and added after a slight wavering:

"And maybe I have to forgive myself before pretending to others' forgiveness. I have to find my own road. And it's not among you all right now"

Giles didn't answer and looked at Faith again in silence. Finally he sighed deeply before giving in:

"Well, if you think that's the best thing to do, I can't have you stay here against your will. But I'd like you to stay in touch with me. Not the council. Just me. And I'm going to see what I can do to make things easier for you"

Faith was about to protest but Giles interrupted her.

"At least, let me help you. And stay in touch with me. Just for me to know how you're doing"

Faith wavered then finally nodded.

"Okay."

"I've got your word?"

"You've got my word"

----------------------------------------------------

Buffy and Xander went down the stairs at a quick pace, literally jumped the last step and crossed the lobby to the garden's entrance. Kennedy was there, looking up to the sky, leaning nonchalantly against the wooden doorframe that leaded outside.

"Hey" Buffy said when she saw her and as she came closer. "Where is she?"

The brunette Slayer turned her head to her counterpart and Buffy saw her quickly wiping a tear. The gesture immediately provoked a sympathetic impulse for the girl.

"Kennedy Buffy" said gently. "It has nothing to do with you"

"Nothing to do with me?" She replied harshly. "You brought her ex back to life, a girl dead for more than two years, an ex I always heard talking about like she was the eighth Wonder of the world and it has nothing to do with me? I love Willow, Buffy. How something like this could have nothing to do with me?"

"Listen…"

"No" Kennedy dryly interrupted. "I don't wanna hear anything"

Buffy sighed but gave up. Right now, she had other priorities anyway.

"Where is she?"

"She doesn't want to see anyone" Kennedy answered abruptly.

"Where is she?" Buffy repeated?

"In the garden"

Buffy looked where Kennedy was pointing out and immediately stepped forward, pulling Xander along with her. Kennedy seized her by her shoulder.

"She doesn't want to see anyone" The brunette Slayer insisted.

"And we want to see her" Buffy replied.

Then she got free from Kennedy's grip and went forward in the garden with Xander under the younger Slayer's dark look.

Buffy and Xander found Willow behind the swimming pool. She was sitting on a seesaw that probably hadn't been used in a long time. The redhead didn't get any reaction to their arrival. They both sat on each side of the witch whose hands were gripping nervously the seesaw chains while her eyes were doggedly fixed on her feet.

"Will" Buffy said gently and put her hand on her best friend's one.

The redhead didn't move. In his turn, Xander put his hand on the witch's free one.

"Will" He repeated.

He tenderly put his other hand under Willow's chin to make her look up. His heart squeezed when he saw his best friend's face drowned with tears. He put his arm around her shoulder in a tender impulse. Buffy did the same on her side and held Willow too.

"She's there…" Willow whispered. "She's there…"

Buffy squeezed the redhead's shoulders more firmly and tried a little smile.

"Yeah, she's there Will, it's really her"

"I know, my God, I know"

Willow stopped for a second and tried to control her voice.

"Yesterday evening…" She whispered. "I felt something…Her presence… I thought I was dreaming…I thought it was my imagination…"

She stopped again.

"But no" She concluded. "It's her"

New silence.

"My god, it's her, it's really her…" Willow repeated in a breath. "I dreamt so much about this, I wanted this so much… She's there…"

"Yeah, she's there" Buffy said and held the redhead even more tightly against her and offering her a comforting smile.

"And if I think about seeing her, talking to her, touching her…" Willow whispered again. "I'm terrified…"

"There's nothing wrong with that Will…" The Slayer tried to sound cheerful. "She's afraid too. But as soon as you two talk, it's gonna get better…"

"I can't" Willow interrupted in a more shaking and firmer voice at the same tile. "I won't be able to…" She clarified.

"Will, you two just need some time…"

But Willow shook her head vigorously.

"I won't…" She said again. "It's too hard…That pain…"

Saying this, Willow put both hands on her chest and crumpled the fabric of her shirt between her nervous fingers.

"It's unbearable…" She finished.

There was a new silence while Willow went on gripping nervously her shirt as Buffy and Xander exchanged a glance.

"Will…" Xander began.

The witch turned her wet face to him and didn't let him finish.

"I can't" She whispered. "It's too hard… I can't take that risk… I won't…"

Xander and Buffy exchanged a new worried glance. They didn't get time to say something before Willow resumed absent-mindedly:

"And… there's Kennedy… And Brazil, the council, the Slayers… They all need me…"

"Will" Buffy gently replied. "It's Tara…"

"I…I can't Buffy…I can't deal with that, not anymore, not again… I can't Buffy…"

As she finished her sentence, Willow suddenly threw herself in the Slayer's arms.

"I just can't, Buffy, I can't, it's too hard…" She repeated.

The Slayer closed her eyes and hugged the redhead. She gently ran her fingers in her friend's hair and looked again at Xander who was now tenderly holding Willow from behind.

"Will" The Slayer whispered quietly. "You'll regret that all your life long…"

Willow buried her face deeper in Buffy's shoulder to try to choke her doubling sobs to her friends' despair.

"I know" she answered between two hiccoughs. "I know…"

--------------------------------------------------

Too lost in her thoughts and torments, Buffy didn't see Giles coming quickly toward her as she crossed back the hotel lobby.

"Buffy" Giles called her out when he saw she had not noticed him.

The Slayer looked up and saw her former Watcher meeting up with her quickly.

"Buffy, I was looking for you" He said in an impatient tone. "We've got a problem"

Buffy had a sardonic laugh.

"We have" She said in a harsh voice.

"So, you know" Giles said. "I'd like you to talk to her, maybe you can reason with her"

"Giles, I just talked to her…" Buffy said in a weary voice.

"You already talked to Faith?"

"Faith? What the hell are you talking about Giles?"

"Faith of course" Giles answered in an obvious tone.

"Giles, we've got Tara just coming back from the dead in the hotel and you find obvious to talk about Faith?"

Giles looked at her with confusion.

"Well, seeing things like this…" He began thoughtfully. "But we've got a problem with Faith. She want to leave the council and be by herself, maybe you could…"

"Giles" Buffy said, turning to him. "Faith is my last worry right now. Sorry."

And she left, leaving Giles disconcerted. The Slayer climbed the stairs leading to the rooms. She began to go to the one where they had settled Tara and found it empty. As she had expected, the witch was still with Dawn in her room. Buffy watched them talking from the doorstep for a moment. Tara's face was colorless and a look of intense concentration was plastered on her face. When the witch saw her on the threshold, she gestured to her.

"Come in Buffy"

The Slayer frowned when she heard the shiver in her friend's voice and didn't even notice her sister's dark look.

"Dawn, can you leave us alone for a while please?" Buffy asked gently.

Her sister looked at her, dumbfounded and didn't move in the slightest.

"It's my room" She said.

"Dawn" Buffy said in a firmer tone that didn't meet any more success.

"We're gonna leave you alone Dawnie" Tara said then as she got to her feet.

"No! Not yet!" The younger Summers exclaimed and gripped her arm.

"It's late, you should go to bed" Tara said with a smile. "And so should I" she added.

Dawn considered the witch's tired features and gave in.

"Okay. I see you tomorrow, right?"

Tara nodded and Dawn got up to kiss her cheek before following her sister and the witch to the door.

The blondes walked first in silence in the corridors leading to Tara's room.

"Tara…" Buffy finally said. "I think Willow will need some time to get used to…"

"I know" Tara gently interrupted with a half-smile. "I know" she added in a suddenly darker tone.

Buffy didn't know immediately what to say and Tara helped her.

"I talked a lot with Dawn." Tara whispered. "She told a little what I missed"

"Oh!" was the only sound Buffy could manage to that piece of news.

Tara fell silent and Buffy could see that the witch was deeply lost in thoughts. The Slayer kept quiet until they reached the room. Buffy opened the door and let Tara in before following her in. They sat on the bad, Tara leaning against the wall behind her and Buffy beside her.

"So, what did Dawn tell you?" Buffy asked after a long silence.

Tara started to shake slightly and turned to the window, which showed a dark and starry sky.

"Stuff that happened when…" She stopped briefly and corrected herself: "while I was gone. She told me for Anya"

Her voice shivered slightly when she mentioned the ex-demon name. Buffy remembered that Anya and Tara had been good friends before death took them both away one after the other. The Slayer searched for something to say. But nothing came.

Again, an awkward silence settled in. Buffy looked at Tara and couldn't help but notice how the witch looked darker and loster than she was in the morning.

"She told me for Sunnydale" Tara added. "And…"

Distress on Tara's face grew even more evident and jumped to the Slayer's face. She frowned and put a comforting hand on Tara's arm.

"She told me for Willow" Tara whispered.

Buffy frowned even harder when she realized she didn't know what Tara was talking about. Was it about Willow's problems with magic or in a more down to earth way, about Willow's relationship with Kennedy? Tara didn't clarify. And again, they remained silent for long minutes. And again, Tara was the one to break the silence.

"She doesn't want to see me?" She whispered so low that Buffy had to bend forward to hear what she said.

Buffy was taken aback by the question. She had planned to explain as gently as possible that

Willow needed some time to face her return and hadn't wait the blonde to be so perceptive and direct about that matter.

"She…It's a huge shock for her. Those last years have been hard you know. She's gonna need some time to adjust" Buffy carefully replied.

Tara gravely nodded absent-mindedly.

"I understand" Tara said after a new silence. "I understand her"

Her voice shook slightly as she said the words and she closed her eyes and breathed in deeply as to find energy to add what she was about to add.

"I understand. She had her life during all this time. I'm not supposed to be here. I'm not supposed to turn everything upside down. She's not supposed to turn everything upside down. She-she must have chan-changed a-a lot…"

She had stuttered the end of her sentence and had to struggle to finish it.

"She'll probably need some time…" Buffy said again. "But it'll get better…"

"I'm gonna leave Buffy" Tara said suddenly in a firmer tone, as she had not even heard what the Slayer had just said.

Buffy looked at her in surprise as the words sank in.

"What?"

"You're right" Tara resumed. "We'll just need some time for things to get better. I need some time too. To know who I am. Who I can be in that life."

Tara stopped briefly and looked at Buffy straight in the eye.

"I… I think I'm gonna come back to my father's"

"What?" Buffy repeated.

But this time, her tone was a mix of horror and disbelief.

"I-I've got nowhere where I'm home now. Except to my fa…"

"No" Buffy interrupted more severely than she intended. "You can't do that Tara. You've got a home. You'll got a home. Dawn and I are living in Rome. It's already your home. We want you with us"

Buffy smiled to her, satisfied with herself, already picturing the life the three of them would live in Rome. But the dream turned short as Tara shook her head vehemently.

"No, Buffy. I don't think that's the best thing to do. I think I have to go away. To find my place back"

"Tara!" Buffy exclaimed in a shaking voice. "You still have a place in our lives!"

The Slayer got up and began to pace the room to try to make the stress go away.

"Of course you still have a place in our lives! It never changed!"

Tara tried to sketch a smile but she couldn't and the smile transformed into an indefinable wince.

"I'm gonna leave Buffy." She repeated. "I feel it's the right thing to do"

"Tara, you can't go back to your father after everything that…"

"Maybe I won't" Tara interrupted. "I…I can travel for a while. Try…Try to find myself again"

Buffy stopped her pacing and sat back beside Tara.

"Listen, I know how you're feeling right now. I understand." She said gently. "Hey, been there too, remember?"

Buffy tried to meet Tara's gaze but the witch looked down and she took her hands in hers.

"I know it seems unbearable, insurmountable. I know you feel ashamed and empty. But you'll recover and things'll get better. I promise Tara. You'll love life again. I promise"

Buffy had gently said that, tenderly tracing the witch's shaking hands with her fingertips.

"Come to Rome with us." She added. "We'll be like a family. We already ARE a family. A peculiar family I have to admit. But a family. Dawn will be so happy. And I'll be so happy to have you with us again."

Silence fell again between them, only disturbed by the sobs Tara tried to contain. Buffy ran a hand on her cheek to wipe her tears and repeated:

"Come and live with us. You'll find your love for life again Tara"

The witch finally looked up and awkwardly wiped her tears.

"I believe you Buffy." She said in a trembling voice. "But you have to let me decide where I have to look"

Buffy closed her eyes.

---------------------------------------------------------

Neither the bright light of the day nor the hotel's usual noise seemed to be able to disturb Buffy. The Slayer was laying on her bed, still clothed and was staring at the ceiling absent-mindedly. She hadn't slept at all in the night. How could she have? Nothing was happening the way she had thought and hoped. She should have expected that. She was probably too used to her sweet life in Rome to remember how things could so easily slip in the Slayer's world.

Within some hours, Willow would get back to Brazil. And Tara would leave Cleveland. Giles, Xander, Buffy and even Dawn's attempts to convince the witch to come to live in Rome or to stay in Cleveland had been useless. The witch had remained calm, clear and inflexible despite their insistence. Buffy wondered if Tara had ever been that stubborn before. She couldn't remember.

For a second, Buffy had thought to knock Tara out and to force her to come with her and Dawn. But if that solution was practical, Buffy knew it wasn't probably the best.

And Xander and Giles had finally convinced her that they should let Tara the time and space she was begging for to learn to live again. They hadn't said it but Buffy had almost been able to hear them whispering "remember how you needed to get away from us after your resurrection"

Going away to come back better.

Buffy had finally given in to Dawn's disappointment. And she knew her sister wouldn't forgive her soon to let Tara leave.

And would never forgive her if something unfortunately happened to Tara.

Buffy kept repeating herself that Tara was a witch and was able to defend herself but she couldn't help but worry to know she would be alone God knew where.

She knew only too well all the monsters laying in the dark, ready to devour an alone young woman.

Alone and weak.

Buffy had mainly used that point to try to convince Giles and Xander to do whatever they could to prevent Tara to leave alone.

Tara's resurrection had left her weaker than ever and probably unstable for God knew how long.

Giles had promised to use all the council's means to watch after her. But it wasn't enough to make Buffy's crawling anguish to imagine the blonde going alone on the roads.

And a sudden idea stroke Buffy like lightning.

The blonde Slayer took some minutes to consider what her instinct had just told her then bounced out of her bed and rushed out of her room.

She crossed the corridor without meeting anyone, turned on her right at the end, ran along another corridor and finally stopped by a door. She didn't take time to knock and came in resolutely.

Anybody else would probably at least had jumped – or worse had a heart attack – to that abrupt entering. But Faith just looked at Buffy, barely surprised.

"Come in, B. Make yourself at home" She said sarcastically.

Buffy cast a quick glance to the dark-haired Slayer's spartan room. Everything was perfectly in order to Buffy's great surprise. She had always been used to see Faith live in the middle of a mess. The bed was made and nothing was trailing here and there.

"Already ready to leave?" Buffy asked when she understood where that sudden impulse for order came from.

"As you see" Faith simply replied.

"What are you going to do?" Buffy asked as she leant nonchalantly against the wall.

"I don't really know. Killing vampires, demons, that's for sure…"

Buffy let escape a small laugh Faith could only notice.

"Why are you smiling?" Faith grumbled. "It's just the thing I do. I'm a Slayer. I kill things. End of story."

"Faith…"

But the dark-haired Slayer interrupted her with an annoyed gesture when she heard her voice.

"Listen B, if you came here to Giles' request to ask me to stay, you're loosing you time. My decision is made."

Buffy winced.

"Giles didn't send me here." She answered dryly. "Giles didn't ask anything at all. He even told me he fixed stuff up to make things easier for you so… No, I'm not here to talk about this"

"For what then? Saying your goodbyes?" Faith asked, a hint of irony in her voice.

"No" Buffy answered almost embarrassed. "I'm here to ask you to do me a favor"

Faith squinted, intrigued and suspicious at the same time.

"A favor?" She repeated.

Buffy nodded.

"What is it?"

Faith crossed her arms and waited her the blonde Slayer to explain. Buffy breathed in deeply, delaying the moment to ask, testing her choice's validity.

"I'd like you to take Tara with you. To protect her"

Faith was about to react but Buffy interrupted her before any sound could get out of the dark-haired Slayer's mouth.

"She wanna leave too. She needs to get away from us, time for her to get things sorted in her head. And I don't like having her alone. I know she'd be safe with you"

Buffy fell silent and stared at Faith.

"You want me to take this newly resurrected chick with me?" Faith asked in a disbelieving tone. "You're kidding?"

Then she added in a firmer tone:

"It's no"

Contrariety then disappointment passed on Buffy's face. There was a silence before Buffy resumed:

"Faith, do you remember what you told me yesterday?"

Faith shrugged to show that she didn't know nor care.

"What? I say a lot of things I can't just remember then. You shouldn't pay it too much attention"

"You said you wanted to prove you've changed. That you wanted to pay your debt to me, to us"

Faith opened her mouth to answer but she didn't immediately something to say and her mouth closed before any sound get out of it. The look on her face clearly tell Buffy that Faith thought the blonde Slayer had just been the author of a dirty trick. Something she finally gave voice to.

"It's so unfair" She said as she opened her arms in a dramatic gesture. "So? What do you mean?"

"I'm saying that's the deal." Buffy said firmly. "Take Tara with you and be sure she's safe and we'll be even"

"I'm not sure traveling with a Slayer is the safer travel mode." Faith objected with sarcasm.

"It's safer than traveling alone when you're totally lost, in despair and ashamed to be alive"

"So much fun you promise me!" Faith answered and rolled her eyes.

"So, you're accepting?" Buffy asked, arching an eyebrow.

Faith deeply sighed.

"I don't get it. That girl wouldn't be better with you? Or Giles? Or even better with Red?"

"That's exactly what I think." Buffy said impatiently. "But she doesn't want. We can't – or at least don't wanna – force her. And a part of me remembers what you feel after a resurrection"

"The need to cut yourself from everything and to hang with dangerous people?" Faith asked cynically.

Buffy sketched a sad smile to that question that wasn't really one.

"Yes" She answered simply.

Silence fell again between them.

"Faith" Buffy resumed a little later. "We can't know her alone. And she doesn't want to be with us right now. I really need someone I trust to watch after her"

She stopped and looked at Faith with almost pleading eyes.

"Please" She concluded.

Faith bit her lips and tiredly sighed before giving in.

"I feel I'm gonna regret that. But it's okay. I'll play bodyguard for your friend."

Buffy relaxed a little when she heard Faith's reply and smiled warmly to her.

"Thank you"

-------------------------------------------------

The night was falling on Cleveland and the sun was slowly going down in the clear sky, announcing a beautiful starry night. The council's hotel was unusually quiet compared to the agitation of the last weeks. It was the calm going with departure days that was reigning on this summer evening.

Kennedy and Willow had been the first to leave back for Brazil and it would have been some way from the truth to say that none of them looked happy when came time to say goodbye.

Despite Buffy's, Xander's and Giles' efforts, Willow had refused any kind of contact with Tara, had refused to give herself the time she needed to adjust. And she had preferred to rush her return to Rio in what resembled only too much an escape. She had nevertheless taken time to ask what Tara would become and had protested vehemently against the idea to have her with Faith. Giles had finally made her admit that Tara just needed as much time and space to adjust to the situation as herself. Willow had finally given in to Buffy's much disappointment. Buffy had hoped that this piece of news would push Willow to gather her courage and to face Tara. But it hadn't happened. And in the beginning of the afternoon, Willow and Buffy were as teary as the other when they had hugged when the redhead was about to leave for the airport.

All that the Slayer could now hope was that her best friend would finally find the light she had so hoped for her at the end of the tunnel she was still crossing.

All the time – and it has been long – where Willow had passed from arms to arms, goodbyes to goodbyes, Kennedy had stayed beside her, showing even more her over protective stance for her girlfriend. Except the other Slayers, her only goodbye had been for Giles. The brunette Slayer had refused stubbornly to talk to Buffy or Xander and Dawn had avoided her more than ever.

Buffy had tried to talk to her without success. Despite Kennedy's anger, the blonde Slayer couldn't help but feel a great sympathy and gratitude toward the younger Slayer. Sympathy because she knew the weeks to come would be hard for her too. Gratitude because she would be there for Willow and Willow would need her.

It was now Faith and Tara's turn to leave the hotel. At first, imagining Tara going with Faith had horrified Giles, Xander and Dawn and all of them had questioned her sanity to have such ideas. Dawn had been particularly vehement, asking her really seriously if she had gone crazy when coming in Cleveland. Giles had expressed his worry in more …Giles words. And Xander had finally agreed with her, saying he'd rather have Tara with Faith than alone.

Weirdly enough, convincing Tara hadn't been as difficult as Buffy had feared. The witch seemed to have use all her strength to convince the scoobies to give her some time. Struggling against Faith was probably now above her will and she had given in even too easily to Buffy's own taste.

And now she couldn't help but doubt her choice as she was looking at Faith filling the trunk of a car parked in front of the hotel while Tara was shyly standing on the side. But it was probably to late to step back.

When Faith announced it was time to leaven Dawn was the first to throw herself into Tara's arms. One last time, the teenager begged the witch to give up that trip and to come to Rome with her and Buffy. Tara didn't answer and just stroked Dawn's long hair.

In the meantime, Buffy, Xander and Giles were drowning Faith under all kind of advices. Faith sighed, grumbled, protested and had to threaten to let Tara at the next crossroad to make them shut up. And finally, Buffy's intense gaze on here was more efficient than any word to make her understand how important her new mission was.

Faith tapped gently on Dawn's shoulder to ask for her goodbye and the teenager agreed finally to let go of the blonde. Giles and Xander hugged her and asked her to be careful.

Finally, Buffy and Tara were face to face for the last second before the departure. Buffy had to struggle against her emotions and the furious need to prevent Tara to leave by any possible mean. She hugged Tara -almost suffocating her - without a word and Tara returned the hug in the same silence. She eventually had to release her to let her go. Tara gave them a last smile, Faith gestured one last time and they both climbed in the car.

The Slayer started the engine as Xander came behind Buffy and Dawn and put his arms around both sisters.

Then the car slowly began to get away, gathered speed and finally disappeared from sight.

The four friends stayed some minutes on the hotel's stoop, looking where the car had disappeared without none of them talking. Finally Dawn broke the silence.

"Will she be okay?" She asked in an anguished tone to nobody in particular.

No one answered at first. But Dawn repeated her question.

"We just can hope" Giles eventually replied with a dark look.

Silence fell again on the group.

"So, Xander, you're staying in Cleveland?" Asked finally Buffy, who wanted to talk about anything but what really worried them.

She felt the carpenter nodding behind her.

"Giles is bored without me" He said, trying to sound cheerful. "I'm staying to keep him company. And you, when do you leave finally?"

"Tomorrow" Buffy answered casually as she turned to come in the hotel.

The others followed and they passed the threshold behind her.

"Late for work?"

Buffy said 'yes' with her head. She was indeed late and she had originally planned to come back to Rome some days before. But being late at her work was the latest of her worries right now. Cause there was nothing else she could worry about but Willow and Tara.

------------------------------------------------

_End of 'Gifted'_

_Please let me know what you think!_


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